Gabrielle Union Breaks Her Silence on Nate Parker's Rape Allegations

In an emotional op-ed for the Los Angeles Times published on Friday, Gabrielle Union, who plays a pivotal but silent role in Birth of a Nation, addressed the rape allegations that have swirled around the movie's star, director, and producer, Nate Parker.

"As important and ground-breaking as this film is, I cannot take these allegations lightly," wrote Union, who opened the op-ed by recounting her own rape "in the cold, dark backroom" of a Payless shoe store where she worked over two decades ago. As a survivor, Union said that the news about Parker and the revelation that his accuser committed suicide in 2012 have put her "in a state of stomach-churning confusion."

As has been widely reported over the past few weeks, a student at Penn State accused Parker and his Birth of a Nation cowriter Jean Celestin of rape in 1999. Parker was acquitted, in no small part because of a previous consensual sexual relationship between the victim and him. Celestin was convicted, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. As Birth of a Nation approaches its theatrical release, the story has made headlines and forced audiences who had awaited the essential movie about Nat Turner's slave rebellion to consider whether they could see it in good conscience.

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While Union maintains that the movie is "an opportunity to inform and educate" and ensure that sexual assault "ceases to occur," she doesn't minimize what Parker may or may not have done.

"I know these conversations are uncomfortable and difficult and painful. But they are necessary."

"On that night, 17-odd years ago, did Nate have his date's consent?" Union wrote. "It's very possible he thought he did. Yet by his own admission he did not have verbal affirmation; and even if she never said 'no,' silence certainly does not equal 'yes.'"

"I know these conversations are uncomfortable and difficult and painful," she wrote. "But they are necessary. Addressing misogyny, toxic masculinity, and rape culture is necessary. Addressing what should and should not be deemed consent is necessary."

Union added that she signed on for this movie "to give a voice to [her] character," who is otherwise silent. Voiceless, she "represents countless black women who have been and continue to be violated."

"This is real," Union continued. "We are real. Sexual violence happens more often than anyone can imagine. And if the stories around this film do not prove and emphasize this, then I don't know what does."